


I smell who you are

by luna65



Category: Hannibal (TV), Hannibal (TV) RPF
Genre: M/M, Madancy, S1, and a bit smelly, slightly fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-16
Updated: 2015-09-16
Packaged: 2018-04-21 03:36:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4813436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luna65/pseuds/luna65
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mads' sense of smell is perhaps not as keen as Hannibal's...but he knows what he likes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I smell who you are

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place during the filming of 01X05 "Coquilles" (with that infamous scene) and presupposes not everyone knew Hugh was the face of Burberry Brit (among other things) - which is most certainly _untrue_ , I imagine. The title is a paraphrase of a line from that episode.

_"Did you just smell me?"_

_"Difficult to avoid..."_

They attempt difference nuances, body language, eventually making the scene as natural as they thought it would be for their alter egos. Different from a character one plays for a few months and then never again. They were living within these skins: donning them every morning, hanging them up every night (or evening, if they were lucky). 

Once **Cut!** was called Mads grabbed Hugh from behind and lifted him just slightly. Hugh yelped and laughed.

"It's another diagnostic test, you see," Mads explained, to the general laughter of the crew.

"Oh I thought you just wanted to _squish him_ ," Bryan teased. "I mean, who doesn't?!"

"You do smell good," Mads commented as they walked to the makeup and wardrobe trailers. "You always smell good, what is that?"

Hugh raised his eyebrows. "You mean Mr. High-End Toiletries can't identify my choice of scent?"

Mads sniffed loudly. "Now that you've spent hours under the lights? No, it's just barely there."

"Which is exactly how I like it, thank you."

"A lingering trace of allure, yes...that's you all over."

Hugh's cheeks turned pink and Mads grinned.

 

Hugh remained maddeningly obtuse on the point of his personal fragrance and Mads found himself trying to guess, lying in bed sorting through all the men's scents he was aware of, sleep hovering on the edges of his consciousness in the same way a shy person would keep to the edges of a lively gathering. He closed his eyes, focusing on bringing Hugh to life in his thoughts. 

_Warm skin_ , he thought, _is what always distracts me_. There were plenty of paeans to his co-star's eyes - well-deserved - but a whiff of that skin and he was entranced.

Mads smiled.

 

"So what is this about - people who are keeping secrets, or people who don't know who they are?" Hugh asked, tilting his glass to view the wine within by the light from Mads' kitchen.

"Both, I would say," Mads replied. "Will is losing sight of who he is, the Angel-Maker believes he can see the truth of others."

"Bella is afraid she's going to change who Jack is with her death."

"Hannibal is actually trying to tell Will that he can control his madness, but to what end?"

"One which Hannibal can control, I imagine."

Mads pointed to a direction on page 31: _But Dr. Lecter's nose knows..._

"His keen sense of smell, he knows what's wrong with Will."

"He _suspects_ , at the very least."

"Is it the sniffing or is it the intimacy which is more important? Hannibal is slowly but surely encroaching on Will's boundaries."

"Boundaries get smudged all over the place in this episode."

Mads grinned and leaned in. cupping Hugh's head in his hand. "So how close should I get to you?"

"You're not close enough at the moment."

"Oh no?" A hand up his shirt, resting on flushed skin and beating heart. "Now?"

"That's better."

A face against his neck, sniffing the space just below the ear. "And this?"

"A boy could get used to _that_ , certainly."

 

Scene 21 needed to be re-shot due to lighting flaws, and Mads seized on a particular opportunity for information.

"Should Will be wearing something really stinky?" Mads teased. "For verisimilitude. Otherwise I'll have to pretend there's a bit of loathing, because Hugh smells nice, you know? What does he wear, I wonder."

"Oh my god, Mads, it's Burberry Brit, the scent that every man in the world was wearing ten years ago!" Bryan exclaimed. "I knew it as soon as I met him."

"Is it? I don't know if I ever wore that one."

"Where have you been?!"

"Oh, various places, you know."

He said this in an off-hand way which made Bryan laugh.

"You know, I bet he gets it for free, like, forever," Loretta noted, "because he was the model."

"Oh really?" Mads said, surprised. He wondered how such an _interesting_ detail could go unmentioned by his friend for so long.

"Model?! Wait, what?" Martha exclaimed, turning to her laptop. "Show me!"

"Oh my god woman, where have you been?!" Bryan shouted again.

 

They were in the midst of dinner and Mads snapped his fingers as if a thought had suddenly come to him.

"Burberry Brit!"

Hugh smirked. "Give it up, Mads, I've already had an earful of you lot looking through those photos. If I had known what they wrought, I might have turned Christopher down when he offered the job."

"And deprive me of such lovely blackmail? Perish the thought!"

This threat was met by teasing laughter. "Climb off it, luv, I'm not fussed by the evidence of my non-existent modeling career. If anything, I look terribly vapid in those snaps, I don't know why it causes such a furor."

"You are a beautiful man, and I give up any advantage by telling you that."

"And _you_ are an absolute dreamboat, luv. Now can we get past all this, please?"

"To what end?"

"I don't think of the outside. Even when I look at you and you are so elegant...what I really think about is your mind. The way you _think_ about me is what I love the most."

Mads put up his hands. "Wait, wait now, what about -" He waggled his eyebrows.

"Oh that. Well...a boy could get used to _that_ , certainly."

"The understated Hugh Dancy; I'm quite fond of him."

Hugh began laughing, and Mads drank it in deeper than the wine: one of his favorite sounds.


End file.
